Speaker cables with good timbre

JPS Labs Superconductor 3 speaker cables!!!  Trust me on this one.  Over the last 15 years, I've upgraded every cable in my audio system (including upgrading my entire audio system), except for my JPS Labs Superconductor 3 speaker cables.  Discontinued, so you can now buy them on the used market for a much more reasonable price.  The JPS Labs Superconductor speaker cables are truly amazing speaker cables in every way, as they have become my end-game, forever speaker cables.  Happy listening.          

Auditorium23. Developed according to Ken Shindo‘s theories and real value for money. Especially good with high efficiency speakers and tube amps

Isn't the JPS superconductors an Aluminum alloy? I used their original ic's over 20 yrs ago. 

I'll check the used market for them. Thank you.

+1 on Auditorium23 I use the interconnects and not the speaker cables their tone is fantastic. I'd say the same for my speaker cables Audio Note Lexus another copper design. The two play very well together.

@audiogabby KimberKable TC12 or even TC8.. opens al mids/high freq! 

Midrange, imaging, timbre, and neutrality. These 4 things you ask for are heavily dependant on speakers.

Madison Audio Lab extreme series cables are a decent cable I had a set on my main system, and now run them on my second system. I recently bought a pair off Fono Acustica legato cables. Best $3500 I ever spent on cables.

Maybe we should simply call this the tAudiogone Cable Discussion Forum....tedious.

OP copper, that have a very good midrange, imaging and truth of timbre or faithful reproduction of instrument sound.

Wavetouch audio speaker cable. Listen WTA cable how close the real voice and recorded voice below. Alex / WTA

https://youtu.be/2ru4D-mOMdo?si=PLh0_Cvg_GLLhbwl

The cable Devon Turnbull sells on his Ojas site is really excellent. I think it excels at the qualities you’re looking for. It’s not terminated but I can’t imagine you’d find better anywhere near this price. 

Audience AU24SX or FrontRow. They have a natural tone, are highly resolving but never bright. I tried many speaker cables and the FrontRow are by far the best I ever heard.

I have 2 sets of these, and I concur. My Magnepan Mini (and LRS+) did not seem to benefit as much as all other speakers with the FrontRow.

I did a comparison with the AU24SX and the FrontRow speaker cables. If your system is very resolving then you can hear some harshness with the AU24SX, nothing bad on the FrontRow.

I use a 10 AWG speaker cable from Blue Jean Cables for the Magnepan Mini. One set of my FrontRow speaker cables sit idle for now.

I was at the same point quite a few years ago ... looking for speaker cables with great timbre. Auditioned a number of brands over about a 3-month period. Installed Gregg Straley Reality speaker cables, got off the merry-go-round, and never looked back. Note: they're still in business but have not updated website in quite a few years (says "Not Secure"). YMMV

Happy Listening!

i would buy and make your own the GR research cable kits superior performance yet low cost ( a pair of 4' are i believe less than $100! ) 
they will surpass most all others 

I’ve used cables from Blue Jeans and SVS and Audioquest (because it was a great one-time deal). Recently purchased my first cable from Pine Tree Audio in Fitchburg, MA. Locally Well made with a lot of choices including color, which is fun, and reasonably priced. Check out their rainbow ribbons. Very cool.

IMHO , I was cabled all with Audience Front Row with my system.Not a bad cable but too bright for my hearing and too forward. It was fatiguing for me and after lots of research and trial and errors I understood that it’s all about synergy with components and cables and the type of music you listen too. My music preferences changed throughout the years and having a little bit more time since I’m semi retired, I realized I fell in love with Jazz, smooth Jazz, female and male voices and some well recorded classics and some classical. So my final choice with my cables were the Luna Rouge cables, sounding so pure and organic , on the warm side with no added colour,just very organic.My system is Shindo components,Weiss 501 Mk2 DAC ,Aqua LinQ transportor , Fleetwood Deville SQ  speakers singing along with 2 Rel S510 subs all with Luna Red cables. The Synergy is magical, I feel the sparkle in every song. I have a few well known and reputable friends in the industry whom I invited over and everyone really enjoyed the musical synergy they heard.It is very important that your ears should be priority to your hearing choices and not get too involved with all the advertising propaganda cable companies make. Listen well and trust your judgement.

Having many speaker cables throughout the years that includes Nordost v2, shunyata sigma and audience front row, currently enjoying snake river signatures - absolutely terrific timber, that made me to go with full loom of snake river signatures, 

Skogrand. 

To me you have exactly described Kubala Sosna Realization (or even Elation).

I had a full loom of Audience SX 24 and thought they were amazing until my dealer swapped in a pair of Elation cables.  Both were resolving on the high end, but the K-S were much fuller with midrange timbre and all around fullness, yet resolving without being bright like some other cables with silver I tried.  Many other copper cables were dark.  I am sure there are many other great cables.

I’ve been happy with my AcousticZen Hologram cables for the exact reasons that you mention. They were originally recommended to me by someone praising their accuracy of timbre.

Lots of options i see. My speakers are the Totem Forest Signature. Very transparent with good imaging, in my opinion. The rest of my system is Marantz CD60 and SL La Musica integrated. I'm very pleased with my system so no changes there. This was a good read this morning. Thank you to all who responded.  

Cardas are really good and they have different cables at different price points. Trying different ones from the cable company to match your system is a good idea.

If your cabe runs are approx. 12'  (15'-16' is also fine) try single runs of Neotech 22 gauge solid core copper sheathed in Teflon.

You will require 4 single runs for a pair of single wired speakers.

I'd order them a foot (or two) longer, per run, as you will end up trimming/refreshing the ends over the years.

I've been using 47 Labs OTA speaker cable for 20+ years and I'm on my 2nd pair only because one of our cats damaged/partially stripped a pair.

Use bare wire ends sans connectors.

https://www.soniccraft.com/product_info.php/neotech-solid-upocc-copper-in-teflon-22-awg-red-p-1587?osCsid=j80kjqv013beakq10pjt09jq40

DeKay

Hi,

The best cable in the world would be no cable. The next best cable would be the cable with the lowest resistance/capacitance. If you're looking for a cable to create a sound signature or EQ  your system then you're not looking at cables properly in my opinion. You want the cable to completely disappear if possible, although this is not possible LOL but you do want the cable to have a very low overall effect on your system. You don't just want to hear just the guitar strings, you also want to hear the wood on the acoustic guitar. Less is more in this situation.

This is just my opinion but I have had over 500 different cable models. Have a great Sunday.

Cheers Bob

Analysis Plus Solo Crystal is a very good match for Totem Forest.

Audiogabby Audioquest first choice, Check Veritas cable they are getting good reviews . I have not heard them. 

Surely the only goal you should have for cables is that they add as little as possible to the signal and not what they add to the sound.

Cardas is well known for their copper quality. I recently purchased a pair of Clear Sky X4 speaker cables. They are remarkably balanced with no particular emphasis on any frequency range. 

@audiogabby  I must say I find cable threads akin to asking what shade of blue is the sky?  Human nature says most will recommend what they are using themselves.  Then there will be dozens of different cables recommended.  They can't all be the best?  Since I don't have your room, your equipment or your ears, can I really suggest what is right for you?  But for what it's worth, try building your own set using VH Audio CHeLA Speaker cable (in bulk), now available with pure, solid OCC Copper conductors!

The CHeLA OCC speaker cable is made of 48 individually insulated 24 AWG SOLID OCC (Ohno Continuous Cast) copper conductors that are insulated with VH Audio's AirLok� dielectric. VH Audio's AirLok� dielectric is a proprietary form of foamed/cellular Fluoropolymer that has a dielectric constant of LESS than 1.5 and an extremely low dielectric absorption. The 48 OCC copper conductors are braided into VH Audio's Counter Helical Litz Array TM geometry (C.He.L.A.) around a core containing strands of unbleached cotton. This special self-shielding speaker cable geometry results in very low inductance (.011 uH*), reasonable capacitance (230 pF*), and low DCR (1.35 milliohms per foot*). Additionally, the CHeLA geometry results in more symmetrical field interaction between strands vs. conventional braided designs. Aggregate AWG for each grouping of 24 conductors is 11 AWG, and the approximate cable diameter is 3/4"  (cut and pasted).  A final benefit is the joy of building your own cables.  IMHO

  Not surprisingly, I use these in my own system.  As good as any cable I have heard and only $43 per foot.  Cheers.

Cables are so numerous that it gets pretty crazy and confusing. You can't try them all.  I don't pretend to have listened to too many, but I simplified my choice and am very happy with Morrow cables, and you just go up or down the line to suit your budget. They are very helpful and responsive, the cables are very flexible and not so thick (I switched from MIT that are garden hoses with those damn boxes, sound good but what a pain!). They're a great buy with the frequent sales and you can try em and send back if you wish. They have the characteristics you are looking for as far as sound quality is concerned. 

@dickieboy  I can second your opinion on Morrow.  I used them for years but only as interconnects.  Their Christmas sale appears to be the best of the year at 60% off.  Morrow is a bit like the airlines.  Always on sale.  A while back I needed to go to a very long set of XLRs so I drank the Kool-Aid and purchased a new brand at a much higher cost.  I can't honestly say I heard any improvement in sound over the Morrow cables.  They also give a 60 return policy if you're not happy for any reason.  

@audiogabby Yes, JPS Labs cables are all made of "Alumiloy" or Aluminum Alloy. IMHO, the JPS Superconductor 3 speaker cables are some of the best speaker cables on the market, regardless of price (save for their top speaker cables, the Aluminata).  But, you don't have to go any further than the Superconductor 3.  That's how phenomenal they are.  The Superconductor 3 has no shortcomings or weaknesses.  Incredible bass and dynamics, rich, beautiful, neutral, natural tone and a super all-around performer at a reasonable price (especially pre-owned ).  What more can you ask for? It’s pretty stiff, but I strongly believe that the Superconductor 3 is all the speaker cable that anyone could ever need. Amazing stuff!!! I also use one of JPS Labs’ top Aluminata power cables.  I just can’t speak highly enough of the JPS Labs cables that I utilize in my audio system. Happy listening.

Sooner or later the audio industry might turn out to the natural sound and all current noisy and un-natural sound cables and audio equipment could be a junk. The only cable for future proof (with natural sound) is Wavetouch audio speaker cable which is only natural sound speaker cable.

That’s right. All speaker cables (and audio components) sound un-natural like the left speaker and WTA cable sounds like the right speaker in below video . Test your speaker’s sound like below video.

https://youtu.be/IHf_FSa8amE?si=Fd7ohsNVPKbIOcq4

Now listen to WTA speaker cable below.

https://youtu.be/2ru4D-mOMdo?si=jZv4-Uudlg0A3l7j

Alex/WTA

i would buy and make your own the GR research cable kits superior performance yet low cost ( a pair of 4’ are i believe less than $100! )
they will surpass most all others 

sure am glad in the automotive, M/C  world there is no such as the $18K AQ cables!  guys do not buy and shops do not sell things that are BS and do not work! 
noone will buy / sell a tune that does not actually increase engine power! performance but i see audiophiles will get very weird insisting something works when it does not ! they would be good cult members!  and it is legal to sell BS cables yet a bitcoin scam gets you locked up ! 
the proverbial license to print $ ! 
https://gr-research.com/product/diy-audiophile-speaker-cable-kit/

+1 on the Acoustic Zen Hologram, these deliver what you are looking for. 

Grover Huffman Pharoah speaker cables are superb and check well all the boxes u specified....

I highly recommend Belden 5T00UP 10AWG speaker cable. Transparent, nice details in high and low notes. I diy it with Nakamichi banana plugs. BJC uses them too but you save about 50% with diy. Just a quick comparison on the critical parameters here with another DIY cable mentioned above:

- CHeLA OCC, 11 AWG, capacitance (230 pF/?), DCR (0.00135 ohm/ft). $43/ft.

- Belden 5T00UP BC, 10 AWG, capacitance (26 pF/ft), DCR (0.00103 ohm/ft), $1.89/ft, twisted geometry.

Although CHeLA uses OCC, its capacitance is much higher (despite the unit length) compared to Belden. Note again, high capacitance in speaker cables can negatively affect audio quality by attenuating high-frequency signals and resulting in a loos of treble details and clarity.  Both have reasonably low DCR (note that you want to stay under 0.01 ohms for speaker cable resistance in general). Part of the high unit cost stems from three factors: (1) copper material purity (OCC: ≥99.99% vs. BC: 99.9%); (2) OCC’s larger, more linear crystals; and (3) CHeLA being shielded, whereas the Belden 5T00UP is unshielded. Whether the significant price difference for copper purity, longer copper crystals, and shielding (which is unnecessary for speaker cables) is worth it is ultimately up to you.

My preference is Audio Envy cables.

@OP The Van den Hul 3T cables do what you want.

Indeed a lot of choices out there. I used the Morrow cables from the 3 to the 7, very good cables. I've also used Silnote, Siltech 330 and 550, Bogdan Ghost, transparent Plus, MAC Cu , some Chinese clones and even the Micca cables recommended by Mr. Hoffman. I'm sure i'm forgetting some of them. I will be trying some new cables after i come back from a Thanksgiving trip. I'll post my experiences then.   

Silversmith Fideliums are excellent. And affordable.

I replaced $6K cables that are now relatively junk.

Truth of timbre?  Cables have no timbre, truthful or otherwise.  All dependent on cable synergy with source component and loudspeakers.

+1 on the Acoustic Zen Hologram. They don't add or take away anything from the soundstage. I'm also using Acoustic Zen speakers so they make all the more sense.

Cable preferences are like assholes -- everyone has one!  Throwing my hat into the ring here, I have used a full loom of Morrow "7" cables, MA-7 IC,s SP-Speaker cables.  I liked them and they were a good value for the money.  However, I then went to Shunyata Alpha v1 speaker cables and then Shunyata Sigma v.1 speaker cables, and they are just fantastic in my system.  I have a full loom of Shunyata power cables, Sigma IC's and a Shunyata Everest power conditioner, so I am a fan boy.  In my system and to my ears, they are exactly what you are looking for.  Of course, cables are dependent on a lot of different factors relating to your components, so YMMV.  But for me, Shunyata is great and highly recommended, as is the Everest!

if you're going to buy the speaker cables don't buy anything OFC that's the worst wire for audio, you should look at any company that's using OCC single crystal cables that is the best wire for audio proven for over 50 years, though there's many companies that have it like harmonic technology acoustic Zen, zavifino and many others some charge a lot and others are more reasonable like harmonic technology and acoustic Zen.